Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's job approval rating has shrunk to its lowest level ever, 39 - 53
percent negative, and voters see him as most responsible for the state's budget mess. Voters also
reject 63 - 33 percent the Governor's call to raise the state income tax temporarily to balance the
budget, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

A total of 90 percent of Pennsylvania voters think the inability of the Governor and State
Legislature to come up with a budget by the June 30 deadline is a "very serious" or "somewhat
serious" problem, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

State Attorney General Tom Corbett has the best name recognition among Republican
contenders in the 2010 Governor's race, while there is no clear leader in the Democratic field.

Rendell is most to blame for the budget stalemate, 30 percent of voters say, while 17
percent blame the Republicans in the Legislature; 11 percent blame the Democrats and 28 percent
blame everyone equally. Pennsylvania voters disapprove 57 - 27 percent of the job the State
Legislature is doing, close to the all time worst score of 60 - 26 percent October 5, 2005.

"The hassle in Harrisburg over the state budget certainly has caught the public's attention
and voters are angry about it," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac
University Polling Institute. "Up to now we've called Gov. Ed Rendell 'Teflon Ed,' but the
budget crisis clearly has put some scratches on him and the state economic crisis is sticking to the
Governor. Only 28 percent of voters approve of his handling of the state budget and only 33
percent approve of his handling of the economy."

The 63 - 33 percent opposition to Rendell's proposal to hike the state income tax
from 3.07 percent to 3.57 percent for three years gets a 47 - 48 percent split from Democrats, with
81 - 17 percent opposition from Republicans and 58 - 37 opposition from independent voters. If
taxes must be raised, voters say 62 - 24 percent raise the sales tax, not the income levy.

Asked if they would be willing to pay more taxes to protect certain specific state
spending, a majority said they would in order to protect healthcare and public schools from cuts,
but not to stave off an up to $1, 280 jump in state college tuition, or to avoid layoff of state
workers.

A total of 57 percent of Pennsylvania voters are "somewhat dissatisfied" or "very
dissatisfied" with the way things are going in the state today, the highest dissatisfaction rate ever.

In the race to succeed Rendell, who is not able to seek a third term as Governor, Corbett
leads the Republican field with 38 percent while U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach gets 15 percent and
former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan gets 9 percent.

Republicans give Corbett a 47 - 3 percent favorability with 48 percent who don't know
enough about him to form an opinion. For Gerlach, 74 percent of Republicans don't know
enough about him to form an opinion. Meehan's "don't know enough" is at 82 percent.

"Corbett begins the race ahead and with a sizeable edge," said Brown.

The three Democratic candidates, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, State
Auditor Jack Wagner and businessman Tom Knox, are statistically even among Democrats.
Onorato and Wagner each get 16 percent, with Knox at 13 percent and 54 percent undecided.
The "don't know enough" factor among Democrats ranges from 69 percent to 82 percent.

"At this point there is no leader in the Democratic race for Governor," said Brown.

From July 14 - 19, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,173 Pennsylvania voters with a
margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points. The survey includes 511 Republicans with a margin of
error of +/- 4.3 percentage points and 512 Democrats with a margin of error of +/- 4.3 percentage
points.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio and the
nation as a public service and for research.
For more data or RSS feed -- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, or call (203) 582-5201.

2. (If registered Democrat) If the 2010 Democratic primary for governor were
being held today and the candidates were Dan Onorato, Jack Wagner, and Tom Knox,
for whom would you vote?

34. Pennsylvania has not had a budget since July first, the start of the fiscal
year. Do you think that the state's failure to pass a budget is a very serious
problem, a somewhat serious problem, a not too serious problem or not a problem
at all?

36. To balance the state budget next year, if you had to choose, which would you
prefer - raising taxes to keep state services at their current level or cutting
state services to keep taxes at their current level?